Argumentative Essay On Drinking Water Shortage Environmental Sciences Essay

Argumentative Essay On Drinking Water Shortage Environmental Sciences Essay Although most of the earth’s surface is covered with water, water shortage is a serious threat to the survival of humanity at present and in future. There is a water crisis which faces many parts of the world and it is a threat to survival of human beings since humans are primarily dependent on water. Shortage in drinking water is a major problem facing developing countries which have not taken drastic steps to harvest water and purify it to make it safe for human consumption. However, this problem is also being increasingly felt in developed countries where the population growth has strained available water resources and stretched the ability of governments and private firms to provide safe drinking water to the population. There are many conflicts around the world where people have died or have been injured as a result of clashes over a water resource. Most of these conflicts have occurred in Asia and Africa where most developing countries are located (Gleick 17-22). When h umans clash over resources, this underscores the seriousness of the issue and calls for drastic actions to be taken to solve the problem. Shortage of drinking water is therefore an issue which must be investigated in detail and solutions developed to curb this problem. There are various causes of shortage of drinking water and most of these are attributable to human activities. These include such activities as deforestation and pollution which contribute to global warming, misuse of the water resource and groundwater contamination among others. It is important to develop solutions to this problem if future generations are to survive. This paper aims at analyzing the shortage in drinking water resource, its causes and solutions which should be implemented to solve the problem. The discussed issues will be summarized at the end. Shortage in drinking water It has been discussed that there is shortage of drinking water in various regions across the world. In many developing countries, p eople do not have access to drinking water due to various reasons. In some cases, water resources have dried up while in others, they are polluted. As a result, there populations especially in Africa face many water-borne diseases mainly due to pollution of water resources. Human activities such as population growth and industrial activities have further strained water resources and caused a shortage of drinking water. As a result, there are many conflicts over pastures or water resources and these lead to injuries or fatalities (Gleick 17-22). As mentioned earlier, this underscores the importance of finding a solution to the problem of shortage of the water resource. In the United States, there is pressure on available water resources since half of water collected is usually used in electricity generation, leaving the population to share the little left. There are already calls for charging water resources in order to increase efficiency of use (CQ Researcher 531-550). Although wat er protection has been implemented for years, there is still water pollution occurring within the United States. After the Civil war, America strived to provide its population with clean water and its water treatment system was and is still is one of the best globally. However, industrial revolution led to the pollution of water resources, leading to shortage of clean drinking water. Other external factors such as effects of global warming have also put a strain on available water resources. It is important to understand how shortage of drinking water occurs and its causes. These will be discussed in the section below;